2025 By the Numbers: Planning for the Future
$ 250,000
Amount secured by SCEC staff in coordination with the Sunrise Trail Coalition and the East Coast Greenway.
4,000 +
Number of homes that gained access to fiber connectivity in 2025 under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
$ 870,000
Total grant amount awarded to six Washington County communities to support community resilience.
$ 2,352,264
Amount awarded to organizations and towns from the NBRC Catalyst Grant, with application assistance from SCEC staff.
Community Resilience Partnership
In 2025, Community Development staff worked with six communities enrolled in Maine ' s Community Resilience Partnership( CRP) on successful grant applications at no cost to them. More than $ 870,000 was awarded to Washington County communities, including $ 240,000 from CRP Community Action Grants. These grants are funding projects that include a raised and expanded boat launch on Beals Island protecting the jobs of 100 commercial lobster fishers, a feasibility assessment for a public water system in Jonesport, stormwater erosion management in Cherryfield, heat pump installations at Pleasant Point, high-efficiency dark-sky-friendly street lights in Calais, and a county-wide workforce housing and village infill development initiative.
The project also funded five trainings including a D. C.-based talk, " Clean Energy in Remote and Rural Communities," and a focused training with rural Maine communities to build grant writing capacity at the local level.
Nineteen communities were assisted in 2025: Machias, Danforth, Calais, Cherryfield, Eastport, Stockton Springs, Trescott, Whiting, Jonesport, Islesboro, Lubec, Cutler, Milbridge, Northport, Indian Township, Harrington, Pleasant Point, Beals, Machiasport.
Image from the Resilient Shorelines workshop showing coastal erosion, courtesy: ME Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
In addition, CRP staff worked with the Maine Coastal Program, along with experts from the Maine Geological Survey and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to present a workshop on coastal erosion. More than sixty landowners and municipal leaders in Washington, and Hancock Counties as well as folks from as far as New Brunswick attended.
Installation of doors, windows, and heat pumps at the Whitneyville Hillgrove Community Center resulted in no fuel oil use during the 2024 – 2025 heating season, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 14,000 pounds. Photo via Google Maps.
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